AP court refuses to believe terrorist's love story

Love and terrorism make an unusual combination. That is why an Andhra Pradesh court refused to believe Azad Ahmad Qureshi when he claimed that love, not terror, had brought him to the state.

Qureshi was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Madanapalle, Andhra Pradesh on Monday after he was found guilty for treason, criminal conspiracy and for possession of a fake identity card.

Qureshi has already served a five-year jail term in Delhi, after he was convicted for planting a bomb near Connaught Place in New Delhi.

Qureshi, who hails from Kashmir, traveled to New Delhi in the mid 1990s and tried to set up a shop in the capital. When his business failed, Qureshi returned to Kashmir and soon came in contact with a member of the terrorist outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. He was taken to Pakistan, where he was asked to work for the Ismalic Front, headed by his uncle Altaf. He refused that offer and joined the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami instead. In his confessional statement, Qureshi said that he was paid Rs 2 lakh to set up bases in Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore.

Armed with training and ammunitions, Qureshi traveled to Delhi again. However, he was caught while he was trying to plant a bomb at Connaught Place, and sentenced for five years.

Immediately after his release, he went back home to Srinagar and returned to New Delhi two months later. During a visit to a brothel in New Delhi, he met and fell in love with a  woman named Zarina. When Zarina, a native of Madanapalle, returned home in June last year, Qureshi followed her. He and Zarina started living together in a rented house in Madanapalle, according to Qureshi's confessional statement.

However, the Delhi police continued to keep a tab on him and tipped off the AP police about his new location. Qureshi was detained again on July 4, 2007. During the ensuing trial, public prosecutor Shivram Reddy alleged that Qureshi had come down to Madanapalle to promote terrorist activities.

 "My only fault was that I loved Zarina and that is why I came here," Qureshi told the court.

Qureshi, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, now plans to move the Andhra Pradesh High Court to seek a reversal of the lower court order sentencing him to life imprisonment.